In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time.

This book is an introduction to the autobiography of a Choctaw Indian who was enslaved as a child. The book is marred by Littlefield's racist introduction, in which he insists on referring to Tubbee as a "black" passing for "Indian." Littlefield claims that Tubbee was born to a black slave mother and a white father who emancipated the mother and two older children (who later became prosperous members of the "free colored" community but kept Okah Tubee (then called Warner McCary) as the slave of his own mother and siblings. Littlefield, in his devotion to hypodescent, does not want to consider that Tubbee was most likely a Choctaw slave trying to claim his lost heritage.

I usually don't read too much, but I couldn't put this book down and finished it within a couple of days, and I wasn't too sorry I neglected other responsibilities to read it. Skip going to the movies and read this book, this has more to it than those stupids things Hollywood is throwing at us.

Goodness knows why you would ever want to purchase this travel guide, now that it's several years out of date and probably extremely tough to get a hold of. If, however, you do buy this guide, you should be aware that the country has simmered down greatly since it was written and researched. While there is still some banditry, by and large the country is a pleasant and tame area in which to travel. This guide, however, will forever be a period piece of Cambodia's tragic years.

This book contains all of Alcott's fantasy stories and fairy tales, including those in her book Flower Fables. Some of the stories are sweet and have happy endings; others have sad endings. A few of them are a touch preachy. I don't know if children today would really enjoy these stories. Little girls might. The language is, of course, rather old-fashioned and the morals blatant. I think the stories would be of more interest to Alcott scholars or collectors who want to read everything she ever wrote. Still, the stories show some imagination and aren't objectionable in any way.

I hope get storage fields of related to data.

Back Cover description: Marrying Miss Wright! Nick Evans needs a wife to secure an inheritance. He doesn't need any kind of romantic involvement, and so he proposes marriage to the first woman he meets--Shelby Wright. She's shocked, of course, but Nick can be very persuasive. And as he points out, Shelby runs an odd-job-business--can't she view marriage as just a temporary assignment? Only, Nicks' beginning to realize that Shelby Wright is the sweetest business deal he's ever handled. Too band the terms of their agreement don't cover falling in love!

If you can go along with the plot, it's a fast, fun read. No sex, but a nice buildup of sexual tension. Also both characters are likable and the story moves along, it doesn't drag. On page 184--almost the end--Nick describes why he loves her, why he can't do without her, it's lovely.

This is a collection of 83 short papers and case studies written mostly by professors at European business schools. They discuss aspects of entrepreneurial opportunities, finance and management, but the chapters read more like articles for an airline magazine than useful business instruction. I found most of the material to be academic, superficial or focused on basic issues. Many of the papers appear to be a rehash of prior works such as The Entrepreneurial Venture by Sahlman, et al. The good news is that the short chapters are an easy scan to glean what valuable information there may be.

There was a good section on e-commerce opportunities, and a few interesting case studies with Amazon.com and Harley Davidson among them.

I would recommend Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker for a good study of the sources of innovation and capitalizing on opportunities, and The Entrepreneurial Mindset by McGrath and MacMillan for a more refreshing book on building new ventures within an existing organization.

Daniel Fountain's review of the history of gold mining in Michigan makes one feel as if present during the periods of discovery, mining and eventual phasing out of gold production in large amounts. Although no mines are currently in operation, Fountain does very little to discourage would-be prospectors; he in fact encourages people to get out and try their hands at panning for the mosty sought after metal in the world.

It is a good survey of the microcontrollers but it does not go too much into depth so it has limited use for someone who wants to learn to program a microcontrollers.